


Expendable

by JrSpaceclaw



Category: Moebius: Empire Rising
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Dehydration, Gen, Hallucinations, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, M/M, Near Death Experiences, Paranoia, Rescue, Starvation, Suffering, Torture, Unsanitary, Violence, Whump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-14
Updated: 2019-06-14
Packaged: 2020-05-07 17:43:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19214359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JrSpaceclaw/pseuds/JrSpaceclaw
Summary: In which the kidnappers don't really care about keeping David alive.





	Expendable

**Author's Note:**

> My first contribution to the fandom and probably the worst thing I could've written. Basically an AU where David isn't really considered a valuable hostage.  
> Warnings in the tags, but also general morbid themes and rodents.  
> Sequel to follow, most probably, with less hurt and more comfort :v

David’s lying in complete darkness.

Perhaps the cellar he’s in is brightly lit. He couldn’t know – the blindfold is blocking everything, reducing his world to overwhelming, endless void.

David’s lying completely silent.

At first he tried to scream, make as much noise as possible whenever he heard footsteps above him, hoping it was the rescue squad looking for him. He only managed to tire himself out, and he knew anyway that nobody would hear him.

The gag was muffling every sound.

David’s lying completely still.

He couldn’t move if he wanted to – he’s tied up tightly, his limbs immobilized together behind his back, strained and painful. He can’t even sit up, so he’s just lying on the cold stone floor, aching all over.

David’s lying completely hopeless.

“Why the fuck did you idiots bring him too?”, one of the kidnappers, apparently the leader, growled when David regained consciousness and was brought to him. “We don’t need him. Just lock him up somewhere and leave him to die.”

These words were like a slap in the face, and David started to struggle and protest, only to receive a literal slap in the face. He was then dragged through the labyrinth of identical corridors, and the last thing he saw before he was blindfolded was one of the kidnappers moving an inconspicuous slab of stone to reveal a trapdoor.

So not only is he gagged, blindfolded and tied up in a cellar – the cellar in question is hidden as well.

He never believed in hopeless situations.

Until now.

Because now he realizes that even if help arrives, nobody’s going to find him.

Ever.

-=-

Time doesn’t exist here.

It can’t have been long since he was thrown in here, but every second lasts forever, and all David can do is dwell on his terrible fate and the perspective of a slow and painful death.

With his senses obscured and his mind hazy, paranoia is starting to rear its ugly head, and is soon joined by hallucinations.

He can hear the squeaks of mice or rats, and tears well up in his eyes when he realizes that they’re going to take care of his body after his death; and sometimes he feels as if the squeaks are getting closer and he experiences shivers so sudden and sharp that it might as well be him being devoured alive already.

He swears he can hear distant tapping of water, and he fears that the cellar is filling up; in the darkness his imagination is running wild, and in his mind he can already feel water under him, its level rising rapidly, until he’s completely submerged, thrashing uselessly before sinking like a stone, letting out the last of however little air he has left.

Of course some… dampness has already appeared. He’s losing control of his body, he feels disgusting and helpless. His sense of smell is working perfectly fine, after all.

He knows it won’t happen again, though; not when he gets more and more dehydrated.

A week. The most a human being can survive without water. Usually it’s around four or five days.

And then he’ll be dead.

He sighs quietly when he realizes he’s looking forward to it.

Anything to end this torture.

-=-

Something’s happening.

There are footsteps, quick and loud.

There are equally loud shouts.

“Go, go, go!”

There are gunshots.

Help has finally arrived.

David feels relieved – at least Helene will be safe, and America will thrive.

And he will die here, parched, starved, in his own filth.

 _What a piss-poor death_ , he tries to joke.

And then he goes back to slowly dying.

-=-

“I-I don’t know, I had no idea they took him too”, Helene says, her eyes still wide with fear, her hands gripping the corners of the shock blanket wrapped around her shivering form. “I didn’t see him in the fort at all.”

Malachi grits his teeth and turns away from her, even though he wants to grab her by the shoulders and shake her, begging her to remember _anything_ , to _know_ anything.

But she doesn’t.

And it’s not her fault.

He walks away, putting his hands in his pockets to stop them from trembling.

 _Okay_ , he thinks to himself, _he wasn’t with Helene, but he must be there_ somewhere _, they’re going to find him, put yourself together_.

But hours pass, Helene has already been taken away by the military, and the remaining squad is growing tired and resigned.

“We searched everywhere, Mr. Rector”, one of the soldiers says as Malachi tries not to start screaming. “There’s nobody left.”

“No”, Malachi replies firmly. “Keep searching. He has to be there somewhere”.

But David’s still nowhere to be found.

The day of the rescue mission comes to an end – the third day since the kidnapping – and Malachi finally hears the words he feared so much being said aloud.

“They probably disposed of Captain Walker immediately.”

“He must’ve been killed and buried somewhere in the desert.”

“No”, Malachi says again, trying to sound sure. “No, you… I’m sure you’ve missed something.” The soldiers just stare at him silently, a few of them exchanging meaningful glances. “I’ll pay! I’ll pay you however much you want, just please keep searching.”

They want to refuse, try to calm him down, reason with him, but…

An insane rich guy is still a rich guy.

And he’s willing to pay.

“Alright. We’ll look for him again.”

-=-

The fort is getting quieter.

There are still some sounds – muffled conversations, soft footsteps.

David’s head feels as if it has been stuffed full with cotton. Everything is unclear, he’s zoning out more and more often.

At least he thinks he is.

He can’t differentiate between terrible dreams and terrible reality. He doesn’t even feel his body anymore, the pain has disappeared, the only thing left is darkness and the occasional sounds – unless they’re just another hallucination.

Maybe they’re still searching for him.

Maybe _Malachi_ is still searching for him.

Maybe he’s standing right next to the trapdoor.

Maybe he’ll be right above David during his last moments, and he won’t even know it.

David can’t even cry anymore, so he just lets himself slip out of consciousness again.

-=-

“One more day. Please.”

It’s the fifth day.

Deep down Malachi knows that they might be looking for David’s body at this point, but he doesn’t want to admit it.

The soldier he’s talking to just shrugs.

“We searched every corner, Mr. Rector. Really.”

“No”, Malachi repeated his mantra again. “No, I’m sure Walker is in there, just…”

His voice is trembling, his body is trembling, his eyes are darting around.

He’s been searching too – at first calmly, methodically, but as days passed, he started to just run frantically around the fortress, screaming David’s name, not noticing tears falling from his eyes.

“I’m really sorry, Mr. Rector.”

His legs give in under him and he has to sit on the ground, millions of thoughts running through his tired, terrified, desperate mind.

If David is alive, they’re running out of time to find him.

Malachi can’t imagine just giving up, not when there is still some hope left, at least in his eyes. At this point he would probably be relieved to find the body.

Anything that would give him closure.

“One more day”, he says so quietly that the soldier has to kneel to hear him. “Just… give me one more day. Last one. If we don’t find him, you’re free to go.”

-=-

Something finally appears in the darkness.

Colors.

Sounds other than footsteps and shouts.

Music; songs he knows well, songs he listened to with his parents before they stopped talking to him, songs he listened to while travelling with Malachi.

David knows what it means.

The pain is completely gone. He doesn’t feel thirst and hunger anymore.

So, this is it.

And it’s definitely far from what he’d imagined.

Dying of natural causes, happy and fulfilled, surrounded by his loved ones, the new family he wanted to start.

Instead his death is coming too soon, it’s disgusting, and he’s only surrounded by rodents ready to dig in.

And even his body will never be found and properly buried.

-=-

“No, no, no”.

Malachi stopped feeling exhaustion a long time ago. He’s still running, still inspecting rooms he already knows every inch of, still searching, searching, searching.

“Please. Please, he has to be here somewhere, he has to…”

His voice breaks, tears are clouding his vision, but he keeps going, keeps looking.

Until he can’t anymore.

Until the realization that this is all over hits him.

David is gone.

The only person he cared for and trusted, the only person he felt he could get closer to, is gone for good.

Malachi collapses on the floor, choking on tears, violent sobs forming in his chest, and he’s falling, falling, falling.

_It’s all my fault, it’s all my fault, I could’ve done something, I could’ve…_

And then the sobbing turns into a scream as a sharp pain nearly causes his head to split in two.

The pain is unbearable; Malachi keeps screaming, cowering on the floor, and he feels like he’s dying.

He won’t be able to endure this pain for long.

Suddenly his eyes snap open, but he doesn’t see what is in front of him.

He sees the entire fort.

He sees a sturdy slab of stone, and then he sees beneath it.

A trapdoor.

Steep stairs.

Dark cellar.

And then he screams again.

A silhouette on the floor.

He’s breathing heavily, bleeding, trying to stumble to his feet, and even though he feels like he’s going to collapse again, he starts running.

He grabs a hand-held spotlight left on the floor.

He finds the stone slab, which turns out to be an imitation, and damn good at that.

He’s still crying when he pushes it aside, when he almost breaks his neck on the creaking stairs, when he turns on the spotlight and sees David curled up on the floor.

Completely still.

“No!”, he cries out and in split second he’s kneeling next to David. “David! Please, please, wake up!”

He shakes David’s limp form, and he doesn’t see anything anymore, but he doesn’t want to believe that David is dead, that he was too late.

He reaches for his pocket knife and manages to cut through the ties despite his hands still trembling violently.

“Please, please, please…”

He removes the gag, trying to be gentle, but David’s jaw is completely stiff. He ends up having to yank it out.

And then he freezes.

He hears something.

A whimper, so quiet that it could only be heard in the deafening silence of the cellar, escapes David’s lips.

“Oh shit”, is all Malachi is able to utter. “Oh shit!”

He manages to undo the blindfold, but when he removes it, David visibly cringes and groans in pain.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, sorry!”

Malachi turns the spotlight away and shouts for help before turning his attention back to David, who is slowly trying to open his eyes and move just a little bit.

“Wh…”. His voice is weak, too weak to manage a single word, and Malachi shushes him, not knowing what to do, how to help instead of waiting for the soldiers to arrive.

“It’s okay. You’ll be okay.” He’s crying again, both from relief and terror.

David finally opens his eyes and winces, but he manages to focus his gaze on Malachi’s face.

His eyes are empty and dull.

And then he starts crying like he’s never cried before – sobbing hysterically, dryly, because tears aren’t coming, because he’s way too exhausted and dehydrated – and Malachi hurries to wrap his arms around him.

“It’s okay, it’s okay now”, he says over and over, and David is holding onto his shirt with his stiff, aching fingers like his life depends on it.

The minutes that follow are just a blur.

David keeps slipping in and out of consciousness, hardly realizing that he’s being carried out of the cellar, shuddering in the cold night air, still trying to say something – but he still can’t talk.

There are voices surrounding him, reassuring, urging the others to hurry up, asking him questions he’s unable to answer.

He blinks and looks around, and feels a sudden wave of relief washing over him when he sees Malachi, trying to keep up with the soldiers. He notices David’s gaze and does his best to smile, although his eyes immediately well up with tears.

It’s a miracle he still has any left to cry.

“You’ll be okay, David”, he says.

David takes a deep breath through his mouth – something he hasn’t been able to do for days – and nods.

Then he slowly closes his eyes and smiles.

He really will be okay.

He has been saved.

He feels someone grab his hand – and he has some suspicions who that might be – right before he falls unconscious again.

But this time he has no doubt that he will wake up again.


End file.
